HONIARA (Pacnews) — A group of former Guadalcanal militants in the Solomon Islands has warned of another ethnic tension and has threatened to attack Guadalcanal MPs in the government if the issue of their bonafide demands is not addressed.
East Central Guadalcanal MP and Minister for Fisheries Nollen Leni in a letter to the Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare late last year highlighted the group’s demands.
A copy of the letter obtained by Solomon Star contained very serious demands, which the group of former Guadalcanal militants wanted government to address immediately.
When submitting the group’s demands to Sogavare, Leni said the warning was serious and the government must act quickly to get things under control.
He said all successive governments since Guadalcanal first protested in 1988 have never acted on Guadalcanal province’s bona fide demands.
“The ethnic crisis of 2000 will seriously repeat itself very soon for the same reason of neglecting the demands,” Leni said in the letter on behalf of the group.
The reasons for the threat include the bona-fide demands, the new events that take priority of government work programs, Moti Saga, the Australian standoff, April riot commission and government programs.
• The continued delay of reconciliation work between Malaita and Guadalcanal and within Guadalcanal and Malaita communities .
• The regrowth of squatter activities around Honiara city boundaries and outside Honiara, for example, Lunga, New Zealand Camp and Burns Creek areas and the continued delay on the state government issue.